“Our licences prove DVLA fraud claims wrong”

MCN readers have come forward to show their licences are identical to one DVLA said was forged because the vehicle symbols were wrong.

Marcus Mee, 38, was charged with fraud after producing photocopies of a licence which appeared to prove DVLA had lost record of his motorcycle entitlement.

He is one of scores of riders to complain of the DVLA issuing a replacement licence with motorcycle entitlement missing, then denying they ever had it.

Lawyers for Mee said the charge, which was dropped due to lack of evidence, was based on the DVLA’s claim that symbols representing vehicles on his photocopy did not come into use until 1994, three years after the licence was supposedly issued. 

But since his story was revealed in MCN, 20 readers have come forward with licences issued before 1994 which appear to have exactly the same vehicle symbols.

Alan Smith, 55, from Newport, Gwent, sent a photograph of his licence dating from 1992 which appears to have identical symbol’s to Mee’s. Smith said: “The motorcycle symbol looks the same.”

Barry Pollard sent in a photograph of his licence, saying: “It’s from 1978 and has symbols matching Mee’s.”

Steve Lewis sent one from 1981, saying: “It clearly shows the symbols that were supposedly not introduced until 1994.”

Mee said he was “not surprised” readers had come forward with matching licences.

“They can’t all be criminals who’ve just decided they want to ride motorcycles.” 
The case against Mee was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service last months due to insufficient evidence “to provide a realistic prospect of conviction”.

David Evans, DVLA’s Corporate Affairs Director, said he couldn’t comment on an individual case but added: “There are, on every licence, a number of security features and there is a well-known-to-us timetable for the introduction of features.

“We check all of these. No decision we come to is going to be looking at one thing. We look at the totality of all the things that should be on a licence to see if they fit. And we would look at all the features evident on a photocopy to see if they fit.” 

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